Promises of a Princess
PROMISES OF A PRINCESS Episode Two, Season Three, of Rise. Enjoy <3 Promises of a Princess Vicky is rather gorgeous. There’s really no other way to describe her. Her voice, I realize, is the same one that had whispered to me about Terran and Karina’s father. “You,” I manage, “I’ve met you before.” “Not face to face,” Vicky tips her head and smirks, “this is the first time.” “What do you want from me?” I flatten my ears. I’m a distance away from the border, so she can’t make any quick moves. “I have information I know you want.” Vicky gives me a sly grin, “Trust me, once I tell you what it is, you’ll thank me.” “I’m sure I will,” I hiss, “why don’t you tell me then?” The brown she-cat licks a paw daintily, purposely dragging on the silence before replying. “Because that would be too simple. I’ll give you a few days to think about it. If you come back here in five days, I’ll give you something I know you want.” “And what is that?” I try to feign nonchalance. “The location of Terran,” Vicky leans forward, “the one you were calling for earlier.” I tense. “Have you seen Terran?” I demand, “Is he safe?” “Tsk, tsk, time does fly fast in your brain,” Vicky shakes her head, “you have to be here in five days, at night. Only then will I tell you. If you don’t show up…” She lets the threat hang over my head. “You better not be hurting him,” I snarl. Vicky doesn’t say anything. “And if I agree to meet you here, I want more information than just Terran’s location. I bet you won’t even bring him to this meeting. I want to know where Ruby is and what you Vipers are doing to her.” “Ruby?” Vicky frowns, “I don’t even know who that is.” I know she’s lying, but she does have a good poker face. “You only get one chance, Bryce,” Vicky turns and begins to flounce away, “remember, five nights from now. Take it or leave it. You only get what I’m willing to give.” I watch her leave, her brown pelt disappearing among the dirt and tree trunks littering the Vipers’ side of the Dip. She’s long out of my sight before I finally turn around and begin heading back towards the camp. ~ “How is she?” Flameshadow is cleaning Nightshadow’s wounds again, who grits his teeth. When I walked in, he had shot me a reassuring smile but I had walked to Karina’s side instead. “Fine,” Flameshadow sighs, “same conditions.” Nightshadow mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like “What am I, dead meat?” but I ignore him. “Have you tried everything?” I press. “Almost,” Flameshadow looks tired. I hear from Feathershine that he’s young and that’s why he doesn’t have an apprentice but he looks ready to keel over. Healing the Coalition cats must be hard for one single cat. (I constantly wonder why DawnClan never had a medicine cat to contribute since Flameshadow used to be DuskClan.) “I’m running out of options.” I tense. “But one of those will work, right? They have to.” “I can’t guarantee it, Bryce, and you know it,” the kind medicine cat looks sympathetic, “if none of this works, Karina might just need reassurance that her brother is here for her to wake up. She’s perfectly healthy, but I don’t understand why her mind won’t wake up.” “It can’t be a blow to the head then,” I furrow my brow in thought, “that would involve some injury in her brain, right?” “Supposedly,” Flameshadow gives a nod, “although I would have no way of detecting it. Has there been any witnesses who saw her fall?” “Everyone says she was knocked in the head and crumpled to the ground but they were too focused on the battle to notice what happened to her after that. They say Terran rushed to her side so they assumed she was okay and taken care of.” “If anyone would pay attention to me, I have an idea,” Nightshadow pipes up. I glance fleetingly at him before continuing my train of thoughts. “I mean I’m glad she wasn’t injured why laying there but what happened to Terran? I know he would have dragged Karina to safety and gotten her some medical attention before returning to the battle. Terran is loyal, but he’ll always attend to his family first.” I’m rambling, because I want to find a reason for Karina’s condition and know if there’s a cure. (I don’t actually know what Terran would have done.) “I have an idea,” Nightshadow says a little more loudly. “Right? He would care for Karina first. So why didn’t he? What happened to him? Did he face the same enemy as her? But if he was knocked out in a similar fashion why did they take him and not Karina? There has to be reason for this!” “I HAVE AN IDEA.” I finally look at Nightshadow. “Did you say something?” Nightshadow glowers at me. “''Yes''. Would you like to hear my theory on this?” “I got it!” I suddenly shout, startling everyone in the den, even Nightshadow, who should’ve been used to my ignorance. “Remember Terran’s father?” I ask Nightshadow, who nods. “Well he used to be Viper. He’s the one who came up with the mixtures, I’m positive. Someone in the Vipers must have figured out how to replicate one of his poisons and used it on Karina!” “You stole my idea,” the black tom grumbles, “thank you for being such a great listener.” I roll my eyes, “Okay, Nightshadow, since you thought of the same thing, what’s your theory on waking up Karina?” “A knock on the head?” Nightshadow shrugs, “I don’t know. Probably another mixture to be honest.” I hate to admit that he’s right. If none of Flameshadow’s normal herbs won’t work, then it’s only right that it’s one of the Vipers’ creative concoctions that will wake Karina up. Or, like Flameshadow said, Terran. I have neither. “You can both go,” Flameshadow pushes me towards the entrance, “get some prey and relax. I’ll do what I can about Karina and I have other patients to treat.” He waves his tail at all the injured cats that I might or not have awakened by my shouting. Nightshadow follows me outside as I pick up a mouse and offer to share with him. He grabs another prey. “We have enough,” he shrugs, “and if not, I’ll go hunting.” “Not with your injuries,” I scold. “I’m fine,” the black tom drapes himself in front of one of the warriors’ den where he and Feathershine stays. “You guys fuss too much. It’s not as if you don’t have wounds.” “I’m barely scratched,” I frown at him, “you on the other hand fainted from your wounds.” “Whatever,” he dismisses, “it’s been a week, and I think I can handle it.” Feathershine trots over. “Oh hey! Flameshadow let you out?” “Yeah,” Nightshadow greets Feathershine warmly and lets her tuck in beside him, “do you want to share prey with me?” What happened to we have enough prey? I roll my eyes. I should have known he would purposely share one with Feathershine. The two look at each other in the eyes and I know that I’m going to be left out in this conversation. “I’m going to go look for Applepaw,” I pick up the mouse I was going to eat. “She’s with her siblings,” Feathershine says absentmindedly, obviously not really paying attention anymore. “Better than you two,” I mutter, walking towards the apprentice den to see if Applepaw would mind my company. She is indeed with her littermates but I ask to join them anyways. “Sure!” Applepaw grins, “We were just talking about the best kind of prey.” “Arguing you mean,” Sunpaw sighs. “No! Talking,” Applepaw shoots Sunpaw a look, “We were most definitely just talking. Why I never argue!” Firepaw snorts. I twitch my whiskers, certain that this wouldn’t turn out well, but Sunpaw just rolls her eyes. “I’m tired of arguing – excuse me – talking about prey. Can we please change the subject; especially not that Bryce has joined us?” “Sure,” Applepaw shrugs, “why didn’t you just say so?” Sunpaw gives a groan and I let loose a laugh. “You guys bicker just like Emerald and Ruby used to.” “What about Jewel?” Applepaw peers curiously at me. Figures she would ask about Jewel, she did play with my kits many times when I was busy. “Jewel was always with me,” I smile a secretive smile I only save for my sisters, “she didn’t really like arguing or play-fighting with Emerald and Ruby. She hated how Ruby used to bully Emerald.” The smile slips away. “Firepaw bullies us!” Applepaw declares. “I do not,” Firepaw glowers at his sister, “When do I ever bully you?” “Us,” Sunpaw corrects, “I’m with Applepaw on this one.” “That’s a first,” Applepaw looks at her sister in surprise—genuine surprise. “When did you ever agree with me?” “Since now,” Sunpaw nudges her, “you’re supposed to be relieved. You need all the help you can get, before Firepaw bullies us again.” Her eyes twinkle. Firepaw fluffs his fur. “I most certainly have never bullied you before. I swear, you guys better not spread the rumor around or else I’ll force you to clean out my bedding every day ''until this moon is over!” Applepaw giggles. “Bully.” I’m relieved that the attention has slipped from my sisters because just thinking about Ruby reminds me that she’s not here and Vicky’s deal with me about Terran. I don’t want to think about the brown she-cat right now. That’s a decision for another day. Sunpaw falls over laughing at the furious look on Firepaw’s face. But soon he can’t hold onto the expression and he breaks out in a grin. I purr at their bonds. It’s obvious that they’re close, despite the teasing and bantering that seems to happen every time they’re around each other. Applepaw seems so different from Sunpaw but because she and Firepaw are so alike, they argue just as much. It’s not so different from my own sisters, and I wish I had littermates as well. “Bryce!” I hear Emerald’s squeal. “Emerald,” I lean over to nose her, “where’s Jewel?” “Coming,” Jewel scampers over, “will you play with us?” “Or tell us a story!” “I’ll tell a story!” Applepaw declares, apparently over her giggling fit. “You can’t tell stories,” Sunpaw frowns, “you’ll ruin the entire moral in it and twist it so you can corrupt young minds. I’ve seen you do it so many times to the kits in the nursery. If Nightshadow caught you--” “Who says he had to know?” Applepaw smirks, “It’s not wrong until you get caught!” I give a hopeless shrug. “She has a point,” I relent, “Applepaw can tell a story.” Emerald and Jewel nestle into my pelt and I lay down, closing my eyes to listen to Applepaw’s story. “Okay, there once was this ''awesome apprentice by the name of Applepaw!” Applepaw begins. “Why do you get to be the main character?” Firepaw protests, “You’re always the star.” “It’s my story,” Applepaw says, “next time you can tell the story and you can be the main character. No hush so I can continue.” “Applepaw was absolutely amazing and she always got the first pick from the prey pile! She never waited for the leaders to pick and she was the best fighter ever. Better than whoever is the best warrior in the Coalition! She went out and fought one day and beat everyone. “When she came home, everyone praised Applepaw and made her Applestar. They obeyed her every whim and she became the best leader ever. The end!” I open my eyes to see Applepaw’s ever present grin. “That was the worst story ever,” Firepaw flops down and pretends to die. Emerald smothers a giggle. “How dare you giggle!” Applepaw pretends to pout, “You don’t like Applestar?” Jewel blinks up at her with bright blue eyes and says, “What would Applestar do? We already have two leaders and nobody goes from an apprentice to a leader.” “Applepaw did!” Applepaw waves her tail, “Come on guys, use your imagination!” I let out a snort. I can’t help it. Applepaw pretends to glare at me, which makes me crack up even more. Soon, we’re all just laughing and laughing, as if nothing was wrong in the world. When we finally calm down, Nightshadow and Feathershine approach us. “What’s so funny?” Feathershine asks. This causes me to think about Applepaw’s ridiculous story and we all start up again. I don’t look, but I can imagine Nightshadow and Feathershine’s expressions as the lot of us just keep laughing. This is how it’s supposed to be, I think, a world full of happiness and peace. Life should be spent laughing with friends. Soon… The End. Category:Fan Fictions Category:Cchen3's Fanfics Category:Rise